Why Binge Drinking Is Strongly Linked To Social Media Addiction

A lot has been spoken about social media addiction; from its negative effects on our memory and attention span to our self-esteem and connection with others. There’s a larger breed of people who are addicted to social media who are not talked much about.

College students who binge drink frequently are notorious for posting frequently on social media, intoxicated, revealed a recent study.

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The findings suggest that compared to students who binge those who didn’t, students who were more intoxicated were likely to have posted on social media.

"During these times when young students are feeling disinhibited by alcohol, they may be even more likely than usual to post inappropriate material without considering the future impact," said lead author Natalie A. Ceballos from the Texas State University in San Marcos, reported the IANS.

Binge drinkers show more affinity towards social media platforms as they tend to get emotionally drawn to posting on it. They show greater intensity when it comes to posting on social media as it becomes a significant part of their personal identity.

What encourages them is the fact that even their friends who view and comment on their posts are more likely to perceive intoxication as a fun and exciting endeavour, states Ceballos.

"These findings suggest that, in terms of common brain reward mechanisms, perhaps when students get a positive response on social media, this might be "rewarding" to them in a way that is similar to other addictive behaviors, and then over time they get 'hooked'," Ceballos notes, reported Science Daily.

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"As for what form this intervention might take, we're not really there yet," Ceballos reports. "However, I believe that pairing recent advances in alcohol biosensor technology (to detect a drinking episode when it occurs) and ecological momentary interventions (to reach out to clients via mobile phones 'in the moment') could make this type of intervention a reality in the very near future."

"While college students' reliance on social media has been identified as a risk factor for alcohol-related problems," Ceballos says, "it might also present an opportunity for innovative interventions."

The study showed Snapchat and Instagram are two of the most popular sites amongst college students, followed by Facebook and Twitter. "Facebook is waning in popularity among younger users," the researchers write, "whereas Snapchat is becoming more popular," reports Science Daily.

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They also found that binge drinkers specifically used Snapchat and Facebook over other social media sites more frequently.